In Memory
by SpaceRanger
Summary: Jack, after Shepard dies, gets an N7 tattoo.


** DISCLAIMER****: **_All of the characters in this fic are not mine. They are the property of BIOWARE. Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed! :-)_

** Author's Note****:**_ Warning! They're not realllyyy in the story but there will be hints/mentions of Female Shepard With Liara T'Soni ahead! If this offends you press the back button now!_

_An anon at the kink meme prompted this:_

Jack, after Shep dies she gets an N7 tatoo

Any pairing, and any shep, are acceptable (and Jack and Shepard don't have to have been romantically involved).

_ masseffectkink. livejournal . c o m 5736. html ? thread=25336168 # t25336168 __(Don't forget to remove spaces and add the slash between com and 5736.)_

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** In Memory **

By SpaceRanger

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"Uhhh… I don't mind but… didn't you say that you usually get these things done yourself, Teach?"

"I'm not interested in joining the fucking Alliance or going through that shitty ass program just for a tat, Boy Scout."

"Oh yeah. Forgot that the N7 thing can't be used by anyone but the one who passed through the course. So, you're just gonna blame me for it?"

"Your second SPECTRE can bail you out." Not bothering to listen for a response, Jack disconnected the call and prepared to head out.

She had a kid waiting for her.

* * *

Corlia T'soni didn't like the month of April. She didn't hate it, but she didn't like it.

April was the month when the grown-ups start acting strange… well… stranger. Especially her mother.

Throughout the month, sometimes Liara would hold her and won't let go. Other times she wouldn't even want to be in the same room, closing herself off with either a coldness of dismissal or the sadness of depression when Corlia wanted or needed to seek her out.

Today was one of those days of gloom and Liara had decided to allow her to stay with Aunt Jack for the day. But even her babysitter for the day didn't look happy.

Corlia did notice that before they left, Aunt Jack had looked between mother and daughter once, scowled angrily as she flung Corlia's overnight bag over one of her shoulders, and shoved her free hand in her jacket pocket. She had a feeling if their front door had to be swung close by hand like the old house Liara and Corlia sometimes stayed in, it would've been slammed. Aunt Jack had done that before.

Once out of the sight of the T'Soni home, Corlia at the taller being's heels, the first thing Aunt Jack did was take them to a small out-of-the-way building where they found an unfamiliar and big person covered with as much art on their skin as Aunt Jack at their sink.

Without bothering to turning around or stop washing their hands, the person comments, "Late as usual, Teach."

Aunt Jack sneered. But it was one of those playful sneers that Corlia recognized. "Bite me!"

The person clicked their tongue. "That's your specialty isn't it?"

The person turned around and raised an eyebrow as soon as they spotted her.

"I don't recall mentioning an urge to fit inside a coffee cup, Teach."

Aunt Jack rolled her eyes as she turned her head half way to look at the little asari. "Girl Scout, meet Boy Scout. Vega, Baby T'soni." She jabbed her thumb in the air, pointing it towards the big person who had given her a quick salute. "If your mother asks, this is your Uncle James. You met him before you figured out that you had hands. Doubt you'd remember him though."

The person - Uncle James grinned. "Girl Scout? Heh, incorruptible like her mom eh?"

Aunt Jack punched the man's arm, hard. "Her _Dad_, dumbah-dummy."

"Her too I guess."

Aunt Jack punched him again.

"Hey! That's my drawing arm, Teach!"

"Deal with it, Boy Scout."

Uncle James stuck his tongue out at her.

Her babysitter held up a threatening fist to his face in a motion Corlia had seen many times before when Aunt Jack thought she wasn't looking. It was a motion that often prefaced her flipping up her middle finger. The little asari often wondered if the adults flipped up their middle fingers because they can get cooties from sticking their tongue back at the person who started it.

Aunt Jack then turned towards Corlia, picked her up, and sat her on a chair by the counter that separated the dining area from the living room. "I've got some business I've gotta take care of with this idiot. Don't leave the house."

Corlia nodded shyly.

Satisfied, her babysitter turned towards Uncle James. "Any food, Boy Scout?"

Uncle James nodded. "I haven't stocked up on adult stuff so anything in the fridge and cabinets she can eat."

"Let me grab a few things for Girl Scout and then we can get started."

A little while later curious and worried wide green eyes on the little asari body peered over the counter. She nervously chewed on an apple slice - a habit that would eventually evolve into chewing on her stylus or the tip of the finger nail on her thumb when thinking or taking exams - as she watched her babysitter for the day and her new uncle instead of playing with her toys. The whirling sound of the paint brush Uncle James was using to put color on Aunt Jack's skin seemed very loud in the room.

Slowly the lines of color began to take on a design, but all she could see from her little area was a dark looking bar.

Eventually, Uncle James shut off the machine. "Done."

Aunt Jack peered down at the design on her skin with narrowed eyes and after a few minutes nodded with a grunt. "Not bad, Boy Scout."

Uncle James smirked as he covered his work with a big looking bandaid. "Told ya. Besides, I won't be here if you change your mind. Get shipped out again tomorrow."

Aunt Jack jumped off the chair with a dismissive, "Whatever." before she toggled something on her omni-tool. "Shuttle will be here soon. Get your things, Girl Scout. We're leaving."

Corlia nodded, quickly gathered her toys and ran out to the area where her bag was. Before she left, she heard Uncle James say, "Doesn't say much does she?"

"Not everyone chats it up like you and Shepard."

"Hmm… Lola would've liked that. Always said any kids they've got should take after Blue."

Aunt Jack grunted.

"Heading to the memorial later, Teach?"

"What ever the hel- What for?"

"Pay your respects? Some people think spirits can linger and hear you talk to them. Maybe even talk back."

Aunt Jack snorted.

"Think about it, Teach. It'll be good for her to hear from you, to know you're doing well."

She didn't reply as Corlia entered with her backpack. Her babysitter swung the pack over the shoulder without the new drawing and picked up the little asari with the same as soon as she was within arm reach. Corlia nestled against the crook of her aunt's neck to peek over her shoulder and the bag then wave at Uncle James as they exited the building without another word.

She did see her new uncle saluted again then waved back before the door slid close behind them.

The youngest T'soni use the arm she had be using to wave at Uncle James to touch Aunt Jack's cheek to get her attention.

"Not yet." Aunt Jack muttered.

Corlia nodded as the shuttle arrived and tried not to fidget as they took the shuttle back to her babysitter's apartment. She failed. Aunt Jack only scolded her when Corlia tried to look over the driver's seat in an attempt to find out how close they were to the end point as the only way for the little asari to see was to wiggle out of her seatbelt and leave her own seat. Properly chided, Corlia returned to her seat and buckled herself back in.

An hour later, they reached the destination Aunt Jack set - her apartment - with Corlia fidgeting most of the way.

Once inside, Corlia reached for Aunt Jack again, who shook her head. "Gotta wait a little longer, Girl Scout. I need to clean this up before my fuc- arm falls off."

Instead of settling in the living room where they had dropped off Corlia's travel bag, the little asari trailed after her colorful aunt to the only bathroom in the apartment. She climbed onto her little stool to watched her go through the motions of removing the bandage from her arm and carefully cleaning the new drawing.

With this much closer look, Corlia could see that the new drawing was a dark looking bar. In the center of the bar are 3 symbols, one of which was a red triangle. The other two looked like some strangely designed things in gray that looked like this:

N7

Her eyes widened when she recognized it as the same symbols embedded on most of the things that her mother forbid her to touch until she was at least a hundred or have had some commando training. Questions flew through the little asari's mind in a fast pace but when she raised her head and omni-tool to ask, she found herself unable to.

There were no tears but the youngest T'Soni can feel the sadness surrounding Aunt Jack. Similar, but not quite the same as her mother's sadness.

"Hey, hey, don't cry little Girl Scout."

Startled by the sudden attention and the interruption of silence from her aunt, Corlia jumped. She touched her hand to her face and was surprised to find her hand covered with a bit of water.

Aunt Jack pulled out some tissue papers, cleaned the droplets from Corlia's eyes and hand, then held the item to the little blue nose. "Out with the snot."

Corlia did as she was told and had her face cleaned up a little more after that.

When she was satisfied, her babysitter picked her up and settled them in the living room. Aunt Jack chose to sit them on the fluffy mattress and sleep sets of blankets and pillows she only pulled out and set up when she was babysitting. The mattress itself was set so that Aunt jack could use the sofa as a back rest like she was doing now. The little asari chose to pick up one of the blankets before moving to sit on her babysitter's lap and face her.

"So what's the damage, Girl Scout?"

Corlia typed a few characters into her own omni-tool, one that had been altered by her Aunt Tali and Uncle Garras for her use, in order to get the mechanical voice to project her thoughts.

Post war, any and all medical aides were directed towards the most wounded. This, combined with the stress of her job, the fact that the age in which Liara chose to have her was very much equivalent to a high risk teen birth, and the depression from losing her bondmate complicated Corlia's development while still in the womb as well as her birth. It was considered lucky that she had no other issues then a birth defect that affected her vocal cords. The defect can eventually be fixed once the burden of post war has been eased, but with the casualty list so large, that would not be for another ten years if that.

["Hurts?"] She tried to touch the design, only to be stopped by Aunt Jack grabbing her hand.

"Don't touch. And no, it's just just feels like some fuc-someone punched me in the arm. Typical Jack day."

Corlia shook her head and touched her babysitter's face. ["Hurts inside… like mommy."]

Aunt Jack barked a humorless laugh. "Probably not quite like your mom." She leaned her head back to lay the back of her head against the couch cushions, her eyes taking on a far away look similar to that of all the grown-ups Corlia knew. The only difference between them was that Aunt Jack didn't seem to like doing that. Her babysitter would often - like now - catch herself on it and shake her head with anger in her narrowed eyes and a scowl.

Corlia looked back at the new picture on Aunt Jack's arm. Little fingers itched to touch, so she clutched the blanket to her tightly to avoid the urge. Corlia knew from experience how much it hurt when she poked her own bruise. The little asari had gotten the bruise from tripping up the steps when she tried to read and walk at the same time.

Lifting her head off the sofa, one of Aunt Jack's fingers, the ones attached to the arm that didn't have the picture, entered Corlia's field of vision to point at one of the gray symbols without touching the picture. "This is the Human English Alphabet N."

She moved her finger and pointed to the symbol next to the N. "This? The Human Galactic Number 7. In the military, we read this as 'N7'. It's short hand for Special Forces personnel."

Aunt Jack rolled her eyes. "Don't ask, it's a fuc-stupid military thing."

Confused, Corlia wrinkled her nose and brow. She doesn't know what military means besides the fact that most of the adults she knew worked for them but... ["Why do you have it if it's stupid?"]

Her babysitter snorted. "Because thanks to your god- dad, I've gone fuc- _soft_." Aunt Jack's face contorted into a brief sneer at the final word.

The little asari frowned, puzzled still. ["What does Uncle Wrex have to do with anything?"]

"I meant your dad." Aunt Jack's finger moved once more and pointed at the red symbol. "This is just a shape, a triangle. But it's not the shape but the color that's important here. Humans, when we bleed, our blood is red, not purple. It's… it shows that many people _died_ to get to where we are today."

Her babysitter moved the hand to gesture around her. "This. This peace."

Aunt Jack sighed as she settled the hand back on the mattress and leaned her head back on the sofa. "_**I**_ don't think it was worth it. Your dad, the person who should've been able to see this - _deserves to see this_ - is one of the dead. Hell, most people probably forgot about what this day even means besides an excuse to get out of work, party, and get fucking drunk."

"Do yourself a favor, Girl Scout. Don't ever bother trying to save this shi-universe. Any one asks, give them a fist to the face then run away and hide. Place is like a fu-black hole. Takes everything you have and grinds you into nothingness, you get nothing back in return."

["She got you."] Aunt Jack jerked her head up to stare at the little asari.

["She got you, and Mom, and Uncle Garrus, and-"]

Her babysitter barked a short laugh, interrupting Corlia's train of thought on listing every single one of their family. "An orphan with no family getting one? Yeah, I guess that would be a dream come true."

Aunt Jack snorted, poked at her new drawing, and winced. "I'll have to wait 'till morning to add 'In Memory of Family'."

With a smirk, Aunt Jack used two fingers to poke at Corlia's forehead. "And your mom says it doesn't work that way. Sounds like you got a bit of Shepard's mouth."

Corlia recoiled in horror. Grunt had forced her into watching a horror vid the night before and the phrase Aunt Jack used was similar to the one written on a card one of the characters got. The "present" that came with the card was a box of lips and teeth that had Grunt laughing but made her throw up.

["Dad's mouth? Mom wouldn't give me that would she?"] The little asari blinked as another thought occurred to her. ["What does Hell mean? And Fucking Drunk?"]

* * *

_A/N: Answers To Questions You Didn't Even Know You Wanted To Ask:_

_According to Mass Effect Timeline, Shepard was born April 11th, 2154 CE._


End file.
